


The Anatomy of Love

by TCOOKIES777



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - College/University, Arranged Marriage, Breeding Kink, Classroom Sex, Consensual Underage Sex, Cunnilingus, Daddy Kink, Ex-Soldier Kakashi, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Gangsters, Loss of Virginity, Mutual Masturbation, Other kinks, Praise Kink, Professor Hatake, Sex Toys Under Clothing, Teacher-Student Relationship, kakashi has ptsd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:15:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29625507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TCOOKIES777/pseuds/TCOOKIES777
Summary: Arranged to marry the Uchiha company heir since she was a young girl, Sakura has always known what her future would be, believing her fate's written in the stars. Now, at 17 years old and ready to start her first year of college, life decides to throw a curveball at her in the form of her handsome Anatomy instructor, Professor Hatake. She knows what to expect from his course syllabus, but there’s nothing in the syllabus about kissing, sex, and… falling in love?!
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi
Comments: 30
Kudos: 50





	1. Crash Course

**Author's Note:**

> **PLEASE READ:  
>  **1\. “Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings” - This fic is a READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL fic… When a chapter has content that may be triggering (which will be rare!), I will put an Author’s Note beforehand with a “Trigger Warning!”. So please don’t comment insisting I tag this fic with warnings because I purposely chose NOT to use warnings and you chose to read at your own peril. But 98% of this story you won't need a Trigger Warning anyway.  
> **  
>  **2\. Underage sex - Sakura starts off as 17 yrs old here while Kakashi is 31. Even though the age of consent varies by the American state, I’m going off by the general age of consent of 18 yrs old here. So that means, yes, there will be underage sex since she’s still only 17. If you don't like that, that is completely understandable and this is your chance to leave this fic while you still can..... .... .... So you've chosen to stay here? Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you!  
> **  
>  **3\. Obito and Tobi will be treated as two separate characters!  
> **  
>  **4\. Sasuke is a jerk here - For this story I will be basing his character on the Sasuke that was going psycho with killing Danzo and the intention of killing all of Konoha. So yeah, this fic’s Sasuke will be based on that specific phase of Sasuke, meaning he'll be a psycho jerk.  
> **  
>  **5\. There are a few tags I left out because - again - they would be major spoilers.  
> **  
>  **6\. Music is a thing in this story - I will be embedding some music every once in a while for specific scenes to heighten your reading experience, but it’s your choice if you want to listen to the music while reading. However! There are some scenes that rely on the music and were specifically written with the music in mind, so I highly recommend listening to the music while reading!  
> **  
>  **7\. Because I know there are some people who have trouble separating reality from fiction, I will state that what I write in this story in no way reflects my personal beliefs.  
> **  
>  **8\. For those of you who are considering waiting for this fanfic to be completed first, just know that I currently have 40-50 chapters planned for this story. And I plan to update every 2-3 weeks. So if you want to wait for this story to finish, just know that it'll probably take at least a year or 2.  
> **  
>  **Thank you for reading, and please enjoy the story!  
> ****

Music vibrated through her body and down to her bones, but it wasn’t the reason behind the slight pounding in Sakura’s head as she made her way through the thick throng of people clogging up the hallway. She squeezed through, using her slim size to her advantage but not without the stench of sweaty bodies rubbing themselves all over her. One of those bodies had clearly skipped the deodorant this morning and she gagged but eventually popped out of the congested space.

“Inoooo?” she called out in a sing-song manner, trailing a hand against the wall for support.

Alcohol sloshed over Sakura’s wrist when someone bumped her shoulder while trying to get into the right twerking position. A little tipsy herself, she gave the drunk guy twerking against the wall a second-long glare before continuing on to the kitchen where Ino was in the middle of mixing up another batch of jungle juice. The night was still young to already be making more, but a plethora of guests had shown up at their housewarming party than expected, much to Ino’s delight and Sakura’s chagrin.

The party had been planned as a celebration for moving in as fresh college students, though the house they were using once belonged to Neji before he passed it onto Hinata to share with Tenten. It was a great opportunity to meet the faces she’d likely be seeing daily once the semester started and it was also a good chance to get a head start in making new friends, but it wasn’t the only reason why the girls had decided to plan this social event.

Taking a sip to test the strength of the vodka Hinata's cousin had scored for them, Ino went on to say something to her but the bass of the music drowned out her voice.

Sakura shook her head and leaned over the bowl of jungle juice dyed an innocent red from the Kool-Aid added. “What’d you say?!”

“Are you having fun yet?” Ino repeated over the cacophonous thrum of the music.

Knowing the true meaning behind that question, Sakura shook her head again before raising the phone she’d been clutching almost since the party started. “He still hasn’t responded to me! It’s been almost _twelve_ hours and he hasn’t even read my text!”

Ino rolled her eyes at the phone. “Stop thinking about Uchiha already! You’re supposed to be hunting for some cute guy to talk to and hopefully score that kiss with, aren’t you? I thought that’s what you wanted?”

Easier said than done! How could she do that when she didn’t even know the very basic rules of flirting? It’s not like she had much experience in the first place. “Can’t you help me find a guy?” Sakura asked, pulling her bottom lip into a pout.

“What? You want me to hold your hand while you’re talking to him too?” Sighing, Ino poured a ladle of the jungle juice before shoving the red cup into Sakura’s hands. “Here, some liquid courage to loosen you up.”

She stared at her reflection in the cup for a brief moment, wondering if her face was as red as it felt. Taking a sip of the sweet liquid, Sakura let it settle hot in her belly but found that it did nothing to help the nervous butterflies fluttering low there.

“Where’s Hinata?” she asked, pouting harder at her friend’s lack of support. At least Hinata wouldn’t be able to say no to coming along with her. Although, she didn’t think her shy friend could help her with the talking bit either.

“She’s with Naruto.” Ino paused. “Well, Naruto is playing King’s Cup and Hinata is cheering him on. But Tenten should be… no, wait, I saw Tenten in the middle of a push ups challenge with someone.”

Biting back a groan, Sakura opted to take another gulp of the sweetened juice instead. How did people attend parties and solo them? She felt like a wallflower, just standing awkwardly around in her skater dress, counting the white daisies that decorated the skirt. It was a mistake to pair it with her brand new white tennis shoes as they made sticky, cracking noises against the floorboards when she moved around the counter to lean against Ino. No doubt spilled alcohol stained her white soles now.

“I can’t do this, Ino,” Sakura whined, scrunching her face at a couple making out by the oven. “How do I just find a guy to kiss?”

“You’re at a party with drunk people. It’s not that hard.”

“But you can’t expect me to just greet someone and chat for a few minutes and then... plant one right on their lips?!”

“Well, how do you expect to marry a guy you’ve never even met?” Ino volleyed back her own question and Sakura winced.

“That’s different.”

“Of course it is,” snorted Ino, pouring in more juice to balance out the alcohol. “Kissing a stranger is a lot easier than marrying a stranger.”

“Easier doesn’t mean it _is_ easy,” Sakura moaned, letting her friend’s cold shoulder soothe the feverish heat in her cheeks. The bright lights of the kitchen made her head feel hot and she glared up at the fluorescent panels.

Tossing several empty bottles into a bin, Ino then wiped down the counter before turning to Sakura. “Hey, at least you’re not trying this at the club where any sleazebag will just put their grubby hands all over you without even asking for your consent. These are your fellow peers. They’re technically not strangers… not _totally_ , at least.”

But Sakura merely huffed, pouring a bit more jungle juice into her cup. Wherever Ino had learned to make such a perfect blend, she wanted to know her friend’s secret. It was hard to stop when she couldn’t even taste the alcohol in it, especially when it tasted mostly like strawberry Kool-Aid with traces of something else that was sweet like candy.

A new song began to play now, slower and more relaxed this time, but it only seemed to set a mood for the couples around them.

Shaking an empty beer bottle, Ino waggled her brows and smiled slyly. “Well, we’re about to play spin-the-bottle in the living room. That will give you the perfect opportunity for you to complete your mission of the night.”

Before Sakura could even try to come up with an excuse to get her out of playing, Ino was already grabbing her by the wrist to guide her back into the crowd of partygoers. By the time they’d squeezed through, Sakura’s skater dress felt like a second skin, clinging to her body by her own sweat. She kept a tight grip on her cup, the plastic crinkling slightly as she drained it entirely to make sure no more could spill in the event somebody bumped her again.

The living room was stuffy with people, especially couples making out on the couches, but there was at least enough space to tiptoe around. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, Sakura watched as Ino herded the people around into a circle. A few faces were recognizable from her highschool days, but most were the faces of new peers as well as Neji’s peers, one of them including a boy with a bowl-cut hair. He kept making puppy dog eyes at her and it seemed Sakura wasn’t the only one to notice it.

“Lee seems interested in you,” Ino whispered to her as someone took their first turn spinning the bottle. “He hasn’t been able to keep his eyes off you since his arrival.”

“Lee?” Trying not to squirm under the guy’s obvious scrutiny, Sakura made it a point to look everywhere but at him.

“He’s one of Neji’s friends. Wouldn’t it be cool to say you got to kiss a senior?”

Truthfully, it didn’t really matter to Sakura. What was important for her was the experience of having a meaningful kiss with someone she chose to share it with.

“I guess? But he’s…” She pursed her lips. It was hard to find the right words without them coming out too dismissive. “He’s not really my type.”

“Oh, and that Uchiha is?”

It was a good point, but Sakura scowled nonetheless as they watched two girls give each other a shy kiss on the lips before devolving into a bout of giggles accompanied by their audience hooting. Would she end up having that kind of reaction too? Kissing looked nice and it also had to feel nice if people loved doing it. Would she like it enough to end up giggling from enjoyment or would she be wiping her mouth in disgust? With the way her stomach was somersaulting as it neared her turn, Sakura believed it might be the latter.

But she wanted to kiss someone. She wanted to know what it was like to feel a pair of soft, warm lips gently press against hers—consensually, _mutually_.

Ino was the most experienced of their group, and Hinata had been dating Naruto ever since their junior year of high school so she definitely had her first kiss already. Tenten also had gone on enough dates to know what a kiss was like.

_Meanwhile, I’ve never even been kissed on the cheek before, let alone gone on a date._

She tried not to be so bitter about it, but it was hard not to. It wasn’t that nobody had ever asked Sakura out before, or that she was too much of a prude to agree to go out with them. No, the reason behind her being a virgin to the world of romance and sexual stuff was now sitting on the front screen of her phone in the form of a text.

She held back a gasp, fingers trembling around the screen edge as she squinted at the words that had just popped up.

 **S.U.** **:** _dress fitting_

Dread trickled down her back—or was that sweat?—as Sakura realized what his answer to the question she’d texted him this morning meant for her. The years of her life had led to this moment, but to see the ball start to roll after sitting idle for so long felt so surreal. She swallowed back the bile that threatened to come up, blindly reaching for Ino’s cup of jungle juice to force the bile to settle back in her stomach. Ino gave her a bewildered look but then noticed the way Sakura was now holding her phone in a death grip.

“It’s Sakura’s turn!” Ino suddenly announced, snatching the bottle from the person next to her and skipping her own turn to give it to the girl trembling at her side.

The cold glass shoved into her sweaty palms did nothing to soothe the turmoil raging within, but Sakura laid the bottle on the ground to let it spin.

Round, and round, and round it went.

She stared at it, willing it with all her mental might to keep on spinning forever and ever. At her side, Ino cleared her throat and she blinked slowly, realizing the bottle had already stopped spinning and everyone was waiting expectantly for her. That bile was slowly starting to make its way back up her throat again but Sakura was too busy gaping at Lee who met her horrified face with a grin and a thumbs up.

Was this it then? Was this how she would have her first kiss? Panic and nausea roiled hot in her gut but then Ino’s words about Sasuke echoed back and Sakura gulped, knowing that it was better to kiss a guy like Lee rather than a cold statue like Sasuke Uchiha. At least with Lee it would be of her own volition (although she supposed the choice itself could be better). Even so, she’d always fantasized that her first kiss would be somewhat romantic considering she would’ve liked it to be a guy of her choice. Maybe not perfect because that would be asking for too much, but she liked to imagine it would at least give her some fuzzy warm feeling rather than the dizzying heat of alcohol and the stench of body odor and various perfumes.

Swallowing hard, she leaned forward onto hands and knees to meet Lee halfway. He closed his eyes, puckering his lips to the point that it briefly gave her the image of a fish. At that, a nervous giggle escaped her and he puckered even harder, seemingly encouraged by the sound.

_I can do this. I can do this. I can do this._

The whole room watched them intently and the butterflies were going crazy in her stomach now, seemingly sloshing that bile around.

_It’s just a kiss. It’s exactly what I’ve been wanting to do for the past few years. I just want to know what it feels like, that’s all. Kissing a stranger isn’t the end of the world. If Ino can do it at the club, then surely I can do the same, right? Yeah, I can do it!_

“I can’t do this,” Sakura squeaked out.

She stood up, eliciting a groan from the eager spectators and leaving Lee blinking up at her in confusion. He still had his lips puckered towards her and Sakura winced at the bit of guilt that poked her heart. He seemed like a good guy, but that didn’t mean she was obligated to do anything for him. Or so Sakura told herself.

“Forehead?” Ino stood up to follow her away from the booing crowd and onto the front yard where there were only a few people strewn about the lawn. “Hey, what happened back there? Are you okay?”

“Fine. I’m fine,” Sakura panted out, wiping her sweaty hands on the bare skin of her knees. She glanced up at the night sky, glaring at the stars that seemed to swirl above her head, taunting her with the memory of the game she’d failed to play. When Ino’s hand came to rest on her shoulder, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t do it. I guess the liquid courage wasn’t enough for me.”

_I’m too much of a coward._

“Hey, it’s fine if you’re not ready.”

“No, it's not fine if I won’t even be ready to marry _him!_ ” She bit her lip, casting Ino an apologetic look for snapping at her. “I’m sorry, I…”

“No, I get it.” Ino nodded, but Sakura wished she wouldn’t look at her with such pity. “You want your first kiss to be special. Meaningful. Not with some guy you barely know but with someone you truly want to be with.”

But Sakura just sighed, not wanting to get into this at the moment. “I just need some fresh air and then I’ll be fine. You think Lee would still be down to kiss me after I blew him off like that?”

Rolling her eyes, Ino smoothed back the pink strands sticking to Sakura’s hot cheeks. “Trust me, he would love nothing more than to suck your face off as soon as you give him the chance. It’s just a game so don't worry about it.” Once Sakura’s face was free of the stray strands, Ino glanced back at the house. “You wanna rest upstairs? Hinata already finished fixing up her room so if you want...”

“No, I think I’ll stay up here a bit longer.” Upon hearing someone shout for Ino, Sakura turned to her friend and smiled reassuringly at her. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine. You should probably go back in before someone tries to raid Hinata and Tenten’s fridge.”

“Okay, but call me if you need me!”

Nodding, she watched Ino retreat back into the house, barking at someone to put out their joint before she stuck her heel up their asses. With a sigh, Sakura returned her attention to the sky, sucking in a deep breath to ease the dizziness that seemed to make the stars keep spinning the longer she studied them. Some of them were duller than others, nearly fading into the black background. That’s exactly how she felt; a fading star that had nowhere to go but into the nothingness where she’d be forgotten.

_Once I marry Sasuke, I’ll probably be nothing more but a wife to decorate his arm outside and satisfy his needs inside…_

Digging the heels of her palms into both eyes, she willed the hot burn of unshed tears to go away. Tonight was supposed to be a night of fun and celebration to mark a new milestone in their lives. College was a privilege that she sought to take full advantage and make the most of. She wouldn’t let something like a stupid game ruin it… or the stupid idea of finally having her first kiss of her own free will.

The power button of her phone started to dig into the junction of her thumb. Sakura glanced down to check the time, but Sasuke’s newest text message stole her attention once more and she was forced to replay their earlier conversation—which was also the _only_ conversation they’ve ever made in the years they’ve been engaged to each other.

 **S.U. :** _set the date for NOV 21_

 **Sakura:** _Why?_

It had taken him twelve hours just to answer with ‘dress fitting’ and nothing else. But just thinking of those two simple words was enough for a fresh wave of tears to build up at the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over. Biting her lip, Sakura peered back at the house. Through the window, Ino was laughing at something a girl had told her.

_Ino will be mad if I just leave the party like this, but I know she'll understand._

With a nod, she trekked across the lawn, navigating through the red cups and couples littering the grass. Her white tennis shoes dragged sluggishly across the pavement, crunching up the dead leaves that tumbled across her path. Tilting her head back, she inhaled the warm night air of September.

There was still plenty left to unpack back at her apartment, but the urge to just crash on her bed and escape the reality of her issues in the land of dreams was too strong. Anyway, there was still another day left to settle in before classes would start. Her backpack was already filled up with all the materials needed to take notes, and her last required textbook had arrived this morning, so she was set for the most part.

While in the middle of considering her outfit for the first day of school, a low whistle pulled Sakura from her thoughts and she noticed in the corner of her eye a group of men—older than her, but of college age—sitting on the porch steps of one of the student-rented houses that lined the streets around Konoha University. Keeping her eyes forward but with them in her peripheral vision, she ignored their ogling and hugged her arms, trying to walk faster. Her feet didn’t really want to cooperate with her alcohol-addled mind, however, and the tip of her shoe caught the sidewalk. With a gasp, she flew forward until one of the men snatched a hand out to catch her.

“Need some help?” he asked while the pungent smell of weed assaulted her nose.

Sakura bit her bottom lip to keep the upper one from curling up in disgust. “N-No, thanks. Please let me go.”

Did she slur? Their wicked sneers thinly veiled by polite smiles implied so. A wave of panic started to wash over Sakura as she realized the street she’s on was dark and otherwise empty.

Instead of releasing her, the man’s grip on Sakura’s arm tightened when he sensed her start trying to move away. "C'mon, let us fellas walk you home, yeah?"

“Look, asshole, no means _no_ ,” she spoke through gritted teeth, trying to focus her eyes on him. He seemed to be swaying side to side like they were at sea but it took her a moment to realize _she_ was the one swaying. The hand on her tightened until it started to hurt and anger flashed hot in her red cheeks at the threat. “I said let go!”

She tried to yank her arm back but he yanked even harder in retaliation. Rather than let herself fall into the trap of his arms, she let her legs collapse like dead weight, forcing him to let go.

“Hey now, don’t be like that,” he growled as they started to circle her. “I was just tryna be nice and you gotta be all bitchy about it?”

Ugh, the stench of weed was making her even dizzier.

Two of them crept up behind her and Sakura reeled her arm back, clenching her hand into a fist to punch the living daylights out of the guy in front. Before moving out of the house that now belonged to Hinata, Neji had been kind enough to take the time to teach the girls some self-defense. Bagua… Baguazhang? Eh, something like that.

She tried to imitate the stance he'd shown them even as the men continued to sway before her. They chuckled, making kissy faces at her to egg her on.

She struck forward but lost balance when her fist flew forth, the momentum carrying her with it. The guy sidestepped with ease and Sakura stumbled, crashing to her knees and scraping them against the cement. Pain shot up her joint and she hissed, bending a leg to check the knee that was already bleeding. Tears sprung into her eyes but she squeezed them back. Like hell she’d give those assholes the gratification of seeing her whimper and cry!

“That was just a warm up,” Sakura tried to laugh it off. Her knee flared with pain upon standing up, but she ignored it with a shaky breath. “Now I’ll give you a real knuckle-sandwich.”

Fist raised once more, she spun around—miraculously not losing her balance this time—and lashed out with all her might, not really caring where her strike would land.

“Woah!”

She missed—no, she’d grazed his cheekbone!

Biting back a smile, Sakura straightened up triumphantly, still slightly swaying on her feet but feeling like a martial arts master now. The smile on her face faltered when she noticed the guy she grazed looked nothing like the guy she’d originally been aiming for… unless the first guy had somehow switched a wig of black hair for grey hair while her back had been turned? Her smile faded away when she saw the two other remaining men already groaning on the floor in pain. And then there was the first guy that’d grabbed her arm now knocked out flat on his back.

Huh… did she knock out all three of them with that one punch?

_I must be better than I thought!_

She glared at the extra fourth man who had suddenly appeared—the one she’d grazed by the cheek—and was now rubbing that spot while giving her an exasperated look. Unlike the other men, this guy had a mask covering the lower half of his face. As if that wasn’t already suspicious, his hands were also clad in black gloves.

Their leader?

Sakura narrowed her gaze at him, particularly at the scarred eye on his left. “You wanna go, too?”

“Actually, I was just trying to help you,” the man answered, raising both gloved hands with palms open in a gesture of peace.

“Oh please, I’m not stupid!” she scoffed, still keeping her hands raised like she was back in Neji’s improvised class. She may be drunk, but she had enough sense to know that a man wearing a mask to obscure his face with black gloves to match was a huge red flag.

His dark eyes regarded her for a moment, brows raising just the slightest in what seemed to be amusement. The guy at his feet groaned, standing up shakily before trying to make another swing at the masked man. Stumbling back, Sakura watched in bewilderment as the masked man sidestepped the punch, using the guy’s momentum to grab him by the mouth with the flat of his palm. The guy tilted back from the hand over his face and Mr. Mask swerved to his backside, sweeping both arms around the guy’s neck to lock him in a chokehold.

 _Wait, what?_ Her mind seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace, still trying to process what just happened. Mr. Mask had moved so fast and fluidly that it was a blink and you’ll miss it moment.

“The fuck, man?!” The guy struggled against the hold on him but his efforts were futile. “What gives?! I was just trying to help her—”

“Leave the lady alone, or I won’t leave _you_ alone,” a quiet and lethal voice slipped from behind the man’s mask.

“O-Okay, I give!”

Once the guy was released, he scrambled to haul his friends up, not even daring to look back once as they ran down the street and disappeared around the corner.

Holy shit.

Mr. Mask turned back to Sakura and her mouth flapped open to say something. It was too dark to really see his whole profile, and his face mask certainly didn’t help. All she could see was a pair of dark eyes that ran down her body and she immediately scowled at the thought that he was trying to check her out until those eyes paused at her bleeding knee.

“Are you okay?”

His voice was deliciously deep and smooth despite the mask covering his mouth. She gaped at him for too long a while, brain still hazy from alcohol. Did that really just happen? A thug beating up other thugs? It had only been two days since she moved into this area, so Sakura wasn’t entirely sure of the kind of people who lived around here, but… Was there such a thing as a _good_ thug? Or did she just run into the friendly neighborhood vigilante?

“Miss?”

Those dark eyes still stared at her, calmly.

“What the fu...” she cleared her throat, blinking rapidly to take herself out of her stupor. “Um, yeah, I-I'm okay. Thanks for… saving me?”

Did knights in shining armor come in black?

“No problem, but I’d prefer if you didn’t try to punch me as thanks?” He grazed a finger against his cheekbone and she winced along with him.

“Wha—I mean can you blame me?” A bit flustered, she waved a hand over her face. “You’ve got a mask on and you’re wearing a black hoodie. I thought you were with them!”

Peering down at himself, he scrubbed a hand against his jaw thoughtfully and she couldn’t help but notice it was a very nice, strong jaw even under that skin-tight mask. “You’ve got a point there. Sorry about that.”

Mr. Mask's sheepish admittance of his shady attire prompted a giggle from Sakura and she swayed on her feet once more. _Oh god, am I still tipsy?_ Why did she find that so embarrassing in front of him? _Ooooopsies!_

"What?"

She narrowed her eyes onto the strange look he gave her. _Oh shit, was I talking aloud?_

"Yes, you were," said Mr. Mask. "And still are."

Feigning ignorance, Sakura tried for a more innocent expression. "What?"

“You’re drunk,” he noted aloud, crossing his arms with the air of an authoritative figure.

She shook her head, but the world spun with the motion and she threw her hands out to balance herself. “Whaaa? Pfft! No, I’m not.”

“And you’re slurring.”

What’s this guy’s problem? A stranger like him acting like her father… the thought annoyed her and she put both hands on her hips to turn the conversation onto him. But damn, her mind was so foggy and, once again, all she could think of was a fish with its mouth gaping open helplessly.

_Pffft!_

“How old are you?” he asked, still keeping his arms crossed.

“Old enough,” she answered, voice lilting at the end like she was also asking a question.

He hummed disapprovingly and she wasn’t sure why, but hearing him make that sound while his arms were crossed and he was staring hard at her in the dark… it did weird things to her lower belly. Fluttery like earlier with Lee but, instead of nausea, it was… heat? Huh, maybe she drank a bit too much of that jungle juice.

Sakura’s eyes fell to those arms where his muscles bulged against the thin sleeves of his jacket. _Wow, this guy definitely hits the gym often. Or maybe he takes martial arts classes; that would explain that kung-fu move he pulled earlier._

“Well, you’re clearly not old enough to drink.”

Oof… caught.

But she frowned at his chiding tone, raising her gaze to meet his own. “I was doing it safely with friends, _Sensei_.”

With dozens, and dozens of friends; most of whom she had never met before in her life until then. But a stranger like him didn’t need to know that.

He still seemed taken aback by her random dojo nickname for him until he shook his head. “Well, you’re clearly not with friends right now and you’re not safe on your own.”

_Okay, Dad._

Frowning at her, Mr. Mask shook his head again and then stole a look around as if searching for a group of girls that might recognize the pink-haired girl in front of him and help take her off his hands. But the streets were now empty at this time of night with the house tenants either tucked in bed or still partying at the frat and sorority rows.

They were alone.

Cocking her head, Sakura asked, “So I’m safe with a stranger like you?”

Ooh, that was a dangerous question. Why did she ask that?! _Stoopid, stoopid, stoooo—_

“Kakashi,” he replied, slipping his hands deep into the pockets of his sweatpants. “If it makes you feel comfortable, my name is Kakashi. But since I’m just a stranger to you, I think you should have your friends come pick you up.”

A white—or black?—knight _and_ a gentleman? _Okay, maybe he really is a good guy after all…_

“Fine, I’ll call them right now.” Raising her chin, she wagged her phone in front of his face to satisfy him. She turned her attention to the screen, squinting at the bright light while trying her best to ignore the preview of Sasuke’s text that she had yet to officially open. Her fingers tapped across the screen as she inputted the password to unlock her phone.

**_Incorrect password entered._ **

Sakura blinked and tried again.

**_Incorrect password entered._ **

A frustrated growl escaped her.

**_Incorrect password entered._ **

_Oh, come on!_

_**Incorrect password entered.** _

Stupid—

_**Incorrect password entered.** _

In her peripheral vision, Kakashi's feet shifted.

_**Try again in 1 minute.** _

Fuck.

“My phone is acting weird,” she mumbled, hesitantly peering up at him through her lashes. He clearly didn’t believe the lie and she felt like a fool for it. Biting her lip, Sakura slowly pivoted around in the direction of her apartment one block away. It was fine; she was an independent woman who didn’t need a man to escort her every time she went for a walk at night. “I’ll be able to walk just fine on my own from here on out, but thank you for saving me back there.”

He merely tilted his head at her, almost curiously.

“Um, well, have a good night… Kakashi,” she added his name as an afterthought. The three syllables rolled off her tongue quite easily.

She took a step forward, but her knee flared with pain and Sakura couldn’t help but cry out in agony, kneeling down to relieve her leg of the pressure. The bit of blood that trickled down to her shin had dried up at least.

“Is it a sprain?” he asked from behind, closer now, but he lingered a respectful distance away.

“Nope,” Sakura sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. “Just the start of a really bad bruise.”

Still, she tried to move through the pain, determined to prove to this guy that she wasn’t as helpless as he might’ve first seen her as. The haze of alcohol continued to addle her brain, however, and she stumbled through it, still tipsy and flushed from the neck up with her injured leg dragging after her. At some point during the whole mishap with Kakashi and those punks, her hair had also fallen out of its ponytail. Now it curtained haphazardly around her face, clinging to her hot cheeks again. Dazedly, she thought that she must look like a zombie, hobbling down the street and barely able to keep on her feet.

Another giggle escaped her.

Suddenly, there was a heavy sigh at her back, and then, “Get on.”

“Huh?” Turning around, Sakura’s mouth dropped at the sight of this stranger she’d just met—Kakashi—kneeling down with his arms held back in a gesture to carry her. The heat of intoxication in her cheeks dialed up all the way as embarrassment flooded her entire face. “No way, that’s too humiliating!”

“Not as humiliating as it would be to fall on your face. _But_ ,” he drawled out, “if that’s what you’d prefer then, by all means, keep it up.”

Sakura scowled but moved towards him. “I take it back. You’re not really a gentleman.”

Gah, why did she let that slip out?! She would give herself a facepalm if her head wasn’t still pulsing as if the music from the party continued to beat through her.

“I never said I was,” Kakashi calmly replied as she climbed onto his back.

His gloves must’ve been thinner than she thought because the heat of his hands penetrated through to warm up the bare skin of her thigh. Having never been allowed to let a guy touch her so intimately like this before, the sensation unsettled Sakura and she suddenly felt like the skirt of her dress was dangerously short for a situation like this.

He stood up and the motion was smooth but sharp enough to make her world spin once more, prompting Sakura to gasp and clutch at his shoulders more tightly. _Oh wow, he_ seriously _works out_ , she thought at the back of her mind. His shoulders were smooth and solid like steel, and she could feel the way his muscles rippled and tensed as he hoisted her legs around him more securely.

“Where do you live?” Kakashi asked, turning in the direction she’d been heading to earlier.

“Why? Are you planning to become my stalker?” She smiled nervously, glad that he couldn’t see the unnerved expression she likely wore at the moment. Even she couldn’t tell if her question was meant to be a joke or something… flirtatious.

_Hitting on a stranger while drunk? Now there’s a great idea, Sakura…_

But he laughed, the sound of it rich and quiet while the fluffed ends of his grey—more like silver—hair tickled her cheeks. She could pick up the chilly scent of pine trees as well as the minty traces of his aftershave and beneath it all was something distinctly male and... She found herself leaning in ever so slightly for a stronger whiff. _Mm, he smells…_ ‘sexy’ was the only word that came to mind. Catching herself at the last minute, Sakura groaned inwardly.

 _Maybe_ I’m _the predator here..._

She tried to shake herself free of his scent and pointed ahead of him. “I’m just a block away. The apartment complex on Peppermint Drive.”

He hummed in acknowledgment and continued onward, keeping his gait slow… almost lazy. She couldn’t tell if it was for her comfort or his own. Keeping her hands lightly on his broad shoulders—wow, she could feel the caps of his deltoids flex as he held her thighs up—Sakura racked her brain for any decent topic to fill the silence with before it would get too awkward.

Surprisingly, Kakashi beat it to her first. “So why is a minor drinking more than she can handle? Or, more importantly, why is she drinking at all? Is it just for fun?”

“My name is Sakura,” she responded with a purse of her lips. “And… it wasn’t for fun.”

“Peer pressure?”

“Of course not. I know how to say ‘no’.”

“Do you?”

She raised a brow, wondering if it was a trick question. “Yes..?”

“Funny,” Kakashi chuckled. “I thought you were going to say ‘no’.”

Damn it, she knew it was a trick question. “You’re hilarious. Really.”

“Mm, so? Why were you drinking if not for fun or out of peer pressure?”

Ducking her head, Sakura mulled over the decision to vent to this guy about her problem or not. Her friends knew all about her dilemma, but sometimes the thought of burdening them with even more worry kept her from divulging all the details about her arranged marriage to Sasuke. A stranger like Kakashi, on the other hand, would make it easier to spill everything, knowing they would never have to run into each other again.

“Well, I won’t push you to tell me if you don’t—”

“I’ve never been kissed before,” Sakura blurted out. His pace remained steady, but she squeezed her eyes shut from the embarrassment of admitting such a juvenile secret. Opening her mouth, she continued slowly, “I’ve never kissed a boy before or have ever even been kissed on the cheek and… I wanted to know what a kiss feels like, so I attended my friend’s housewarming party with the hopes that I could find some guy to… share the experience with.”

It was incredibly embarrassing to be saying all of this, but it seemed the jungle juice had finally done its job in loosening her up enough, particularly her lips.

Sucking in a breath, Sakura allowed the scent of minty pine trees and musk to fill her lungs and clear her drunken mind briefly. “But I got too nervous and tried drinking some liquid courage and…”

“You ended up vomiting on the fellow?”

“Thank god, no.” She would’ve died on the spot if that had happened with all her peers as witness. “But I did leave him hanging and he seemed… nice…”

If she could judge a book simply by its cover, then yeah.

“So? You’re not obligated to give any sexual favors, even just a kiss, if you don’t want to. Nice guy or not,” said Kakashi.

There was something chivalric about that statement that eased the guilt that’d been twisting in her gut.

Still, Sakura sighed. “I guess, but now I’ve missed my chance.”

Kakashi shook his head and his hair was tickling her cheeks again. The temptation to feel just how soft his silver locks were hit Sakura unexpectedly and she swallowed back the foreign urge… hard. He didn’t smell anything like her male peers who practically showered themselves in cologne or Axe body spray. “You’re still young; you have plenty of time and chances to find the right guy and have that first kiss.”

No, she didn’t. In fact, she didn’t have any time at all let alone the opportunity. Her engagement to Sasuke Uchiha had trapped Sakura for so many years of her life and, soon, she would be kept in his gilded cage for the rest of it. Tonight had been her best shot at experiencing the independence of kissing someone of her choice and not someone she was tied to.

Her dream to find true love may exist but the possibility of it coming true remained non-existent.

“I guess so,” Sakura mumbled, peeking at the length of her ring finger.

Eventually, they arrived at a stop in front of a three-story complex coated in a fresh coat of sky blue paint. “This it?”

“Yeah,” she answered slowly, wondering if her knee could make it up the flight of stairs to her apartment on the second floor. “You can put me down now.”

He gently set her down, the hands on the underside of her thighs disappearing and leaving her shivering slightly from the cool air that replaced his heat. Bending her leg, she tested the pain of her knee and found it bearable compared to earlier. Kakashi watched her with his hands back inside the pockets of his grey sweatpants again.

“Will you be fine going in?”

“Yup, I’m good now.”

Besides, she didn’t want him knowing _exactly_ where she lived. He may have been kind so far, but the idea of stranger danger still faintly rang in the back of her mind. What if this Kakashi really was a predator and that incident with those guys earlier had all just been part of an elaborate setup? But then again, if it was a setup, would he have really had to beat them up like that? Even that seemed too excessive for a setup. Gah, running into those assholes had really set her on edge tonight and now she was trying to paint Kakashi as a villain when he’d done nothing but help her. But besides Naruto, it wasn’t like she had many guys in her life to trust anyway...

“All right, well, good luck on your path of life,” Kakashi said, waving once in farewell to her.

“Wait.”

He paused, tipping a brow at Sakura as she chewed her lip.

Was this it? Was this her second chance to do what she couldn’t do earlier: kiss a stranger? Maybe it was fate that she’d been unable to kiss that Lee guy only because she was destined to kiss this guy instead (pfft, yeah right).

It was still too dark to make out Kakashi’s entire profile, but his deep voice and tall height made him decently appealing enough to Sakura. At least he didn’t have the stench of weed on him; in fact, he smelled amazing. Yeah, it wouldn’t be so bad to kiss him. At least try practicing on his cheek and then she could try going for the mouth next time with someone else.

_Baby steps, Sakura. Baby steps._

She swayed forward in a shoddy attempt to move closer to him. He must’ve thought she was about to fall again because he caught her by the shoulders with his gloved hands kindly gripping her. It only served to encourage Sakura, however, as she found herself securely against his chest.

_Easy now._

Clutching the lapels of his jacket to keep herself steady, Sakura squinted up at his mask, wondering how she was going to kiss him when he was wearing that. A giggle bubbled forth as she imagined peeling that mask either up or down and kissing him like how Mary Jane kissed Spider-Man in the movies.

_Forget kissing a senior, I’m gonna kiss a vigilante!_

She snorted in laughter and Kakashi raised both brows in befuddlement.

"Sakura?"

She blinked slowly at the sound of her name rolling out so smoothly from his mouth. “Um…”

 _You’re freaking him out! Just kiss him already! Just_ —

“Are you all right?” he asked slowly.

“Huuuh…”

_I can do this. I can do this. I can do this._

_Yeah, I can—_

Vomit spewed out of her mouth and all over Kakashi’s front.

The last chunk of today’s lunch was followed by a terse silence that seemed to stretch on for eternity as the both of them remained frozen, still processing the horror of what just happened. It was only until Sakura registered the foulness of her own puke did she finally release him and jumped back in a panic that was potent enough to free her of the fog of her inebriation.

“O-Oh god, I’m so sorry!”

Her palms hovered over him as if she could magically wipe away the vomit with her bare hands. Very gingerly, to avoid the pungent red splatter, he picked at the zipper of his jacket and tugged it down. Sakura’s eyes widened as she realized that her barf had also seeped through the jacket to stain his white dress shirt— _wow, he’s got mad pecs straining against the buttons_ —as well as his olive tie.

 _Oh, fuck me_ — _that looks expensive_ — _fuck me, fuck me, fuck me, fuck me!_

It was too dark to read his expression, especially with that damn mask on, and Sakura briefly wondered for a hot second if he was going to karate chop her as punishment. Maybe just break her neck and hide her corpse in the nearby dumpster. He was wearing gloves already anyway.

“You know, you have very funny ways of thanking people,” Kakashi said dryly, picking at his dress shirt that was no doubt sticking to his skin now. “I save you from those guys and get punched for it. Next, I carry you to your apartment and get barfed all over for it.”

Despite the displeasure evident in his sardonic voice, he was remaining amazingly calm for someone who had put another guy into a chokehold just earlier.

She winced anyway. “I’m really so sorry! I… I can wash that for you and get you a clean shirt…?”

If her mom knew she was inviting a guy she only just met ten minutes ago into her apartment— _alone_ —Sakura knew she would have gotten a week’s worth of lecturing. It was a terrible idea, that much was clear. Her rationality, however, was overridden by the unbearable guilt that she’d really been giving him the short end of the stick despite his kind efforts.

“I…” Rubbing the nape of his neck, Kakashi took the moment to survey their empty surroundings. His brows pinched together in hesitance, but it was either that he walk home with her smelly, chunky puke setting into his clothes, or that he accept her offer. The choice was obvious. “You sure you’ve got a shirt that can fit me?” he asked with a sigh of defeat.

She nodded, fingers twisting together anxiously. Jerking her head in the direction of the complex’s entrance, she guided him over and he followed her into the building. He kept two steps of distance in between them as if worried she would rain more puke on him. Although the nausea in her belly had subsided after throwing up most of the alcohol, Sakura didn’t blame him for wanting to have some space. She was a walking disaster when it came to her luck with men.

Even so, the keys in her hands shook with nerves at the thought that she’d be alone with a guy in her apartment for the first time in her life. Never mind the fact she only knew Kakashi for about as long as it took to cook some instant ramen. She’d never even been alone with her own fiancé before—although she’d never seen him in person either.

As they slipped down the hallway, Sakura silently cursed herself for not cleaning the place up better before leaving with Ino to the party. Moving boxes, clothes, and small kitchen appliances were strewn all over the place. While Kakashi was looking elsewhere, Sakura moved to toss aside a sports bra lingering on the back of the sofa as discreetly as possible.

“Sorry about the mess.” She smiled sheepishly, nudging aside a box full of clothes she’d yet to unpack so that he could have more space to walk around. “My roommate and I haven’t had much time to finish settling in.”

He carefully navigated his way through but then stopped at the green and red college pennant Ino had hung up above the couch in the living room. “You go to Konoha University?”

His expression was unreadable in the dark, but turning on the lights would mean having to climb over a whole obstacle course consisting of boxes and other furniture. The persistent throb of her knee told her that would not be a fun idea.

“Yeah, my roommate and I. The bathroom’s down there on the left if you want to clean up,” she added, pointing into the next hallway.

As Kakashi hurried over to the bathroom, she trailed after him, making a right to enter her room in search of that shirt she’d promised him. At least her room wasn’t as messy as the living room and kitchen, and she couldn’t imagine how Ino was faring with unpacking her own things either.

Heading into the closet, Sakura sifted through the nearly empty rack of clothes. Her fingers landed on the red hangar she’d specifically saved for this article of clothing and she slowly plucked it off the rack. The grey cotton of the large shirt she clutched in her hands was unbelievably soft and Sakura couldn’t help but nuzzle her cheek against it, letting the faint memory of her father fill her mind for a moment.

She hated to part with it, especially when she had brought it along to comfort her on those particularly lonely nights she found herself missing her parents more than usual. But it was the only shirt that would fit Kakashi and she owed him at least this much.

_Oh well, it’s not like Papa is around to miss it anyway._

With a heavy sigh, Sakura headed to the bathroom with the shirt in her hands. She knocked on the door, waiting until he cracked it open so that she could slip the shirt through for him. “This should fit you. I’ll also get a bag to put your clothes in.”

“Thanks.”

The door closed shut and Sakura tapped a finger against her chin in contemplation. She still felt bad for ruining his clothes. That dress shirt and tie hadn’t looked exactly cheap, although she also didn’t know much about men’s clothes and their prices.

Pivoting back towards her room, she perused through another box of clothes that was still sealed, ripping the tape off it to sort through the miscellaneous items within. Eventually, she withdrew two packages wrapped in ruby red gift wrapping paper with white hearts peppered across. Ripping off the wrappings, Sakura tilted her head at the neckties before her.

In her left hand was a red necktie with little tabby cats and in her right hand was a grey plaid tie with a pattern of sushi. Both options were more cheesy looking rather than professional, but both ties had cost her a whole month’s worth of paycheck.

“Ahem.”

The sound of somebody clearing their throat prompted Sakura to spin and find Kakashi lingering just outside the threshold of her room. He held up his ruined clothes, letting the faint scent of her shame to waft over to her. Grabbing a grocery bag from this morning’s breakfast, she let him slip the clothes inside and he immediately turn to go with his clothes in tow.

“Thanks for letting me clean up,” Kakashi said over his shoulder.

“Hey, wait,” she called out, surprised by how quickly he’d moved before hesitantly offering the two packages to him. He paused and turned to face her as she asked, “Cats or sushi… or both?”

His brows shot up, dark eyes flitting in between the two options held before him. “Uh…”

Sakura sighed. “They were supposed to be gifts for my dad but it’s been too long since I’ve had the chance to give it to him—and no, he’s not dead. I just haven’t seen him in a long time.”

Those dark eyes crinkled lightly and she wondered if that meant he was smiling behind that mask no doubt in reaction to how awkward this all was. It’s not like either of them ever expected to end their night with puke, followed by having to decide between a sushi tie or cat tie. “Uh, I’m not sure—”

“Oh please, what else will I do with them?” She shrugged. “It’s not like I’d ever have a need to wear a necktie myself. You’d be doing me a favor by taking these off my hands. At least take them as thanks and, um, as an apology for... you know.”

“Then…” Still hesitant, he slowly reached for her left hand. “I’ll take the sushi tie. I’m not much of a cat person anyway.”

"Mm, I'm more of a dog person myself," she said, nodding approvingly while handing it to him.

Almost as soon as the sushi tie was within his hand, Kakashi whirled around to make his leave, his other hand gripping the bag of dirty clothes.

“Wait, did you need me to wash your—”

“No, no, that’s fine,” Kakashi said a bit breathlessly.

He seemed less relaxed compared to earlier when not even her vomit had him rushing. Did he have somewhere to be at this time? He didn’t seem to be in that much of a hurry when he saved her from those punks or when he offered to carry her home.

Following Kakashi past the kitchen, she nearly crashed into him when he abruptly froze by the island counter. What the?

“You’re taking Human Anatomy?” he asked, his voice slightly strained now. Or maybe it was just the mask.

“What?” Sakura followed his gaze to the thick green textbook lying on the counter, the box it’d arrived in this morning still sitting right beside it. “Oh yeah, but… I don’t really have a major. I’m still undecided, but I’ve always had a curious mind for the sciences so I thought I’d take it for fun and, you know, see where it’ll take me.”

He swallowed, throat bobbing beneath the length of his mask. “And who’s your, uh, instructor?”

“Dunno, I gotta check again. Something with an ‘H’, I think.” Twirling a lock of hair around her finger, she added, “Heard he’s crazy hard though, but it’s not like I had a choice. It was either him or try one of the mile-long waitlists of the other two professors."

“Huh…”

Kakashi looked away and suddenly started to walk so fast to the door that Sakura almost thought he was going to break out into a sprint. She had to limp hard to keep up with him, her knee aching in protest. By the time he stepped out the threshold of her apartment, she was already panting lightly. Running a hand through his hair, his eyes flicked up and down the hallway restlessly.

“Thanks again for your help tonight. I really appreciate it.” Sakura smiled sweetly at him in an attempt to set him at ease. Had she spooked him with the sushi tie or what? Did he think she was trying to flirt with him? Well, she _did_ try to throw herself at him to steal a kiss just earlier. Sexually assaulting the guy who'd saved her… Geez, what else had Ino put in that jungle juice? Sakura made a mental note to never touch alcohol ever again.

“Ah, yeah, don’t mention it.” The glint in his eyes seemed too serious for those words as if he actually meant it.

"At least let me walk you out—"

"No!" His eyes had widened for a fraction before he managed to school his expression. "I, uh, wouldn't want you to agitate your knee," Kakashi explained, taking another look around before lowering his eyes.

"Oh." She followed his gaze to her leg and nodded slowly in understanding. "Yeah, you're right. Okay then."

Clearing his throat, he then turned to go. “I’ll, uh, see you around then. Have a good night, Miss… Sakura.”

She raised a brow at the sudden use of formality but, by the time she recovered, he was already speed walking down the hallway like the devil was on his tail. “Goodnight—” His silver head disappeared down the stairs and she blinked, her hand still in mid-wave. “Kakashi…”

_Ooookay then..._

She lingered at the doorway a moment longer before closing it.

Slowly, her brows knitted together and then Sakura dashed into the bathroom to take a peek, wondering if there was somehow a corpse sitting in her tub or maybe the tiles were painted in blood. There was… nothing. It was as clean as when Ino and her had first moved in yesterday, meaning it was the cleanest it could possibly be.

But then why had Kakashi been so eager to get out? As if he thought she was a serial killer or something?

 _Maybe my vomit breath scared him off?_ Cupping a hand against her mouth, she huffed into it and then sniffed, wincing instantly.

“Ugh, it was definitely that,” Sakura groaned out, grabbing her toothbrush to begin brushing away the nightmare of the past hour.

She could die from mortification. Tonight had certainly been eventful, but not in the way she’d planned it to be—in fact, it’d taken a one-eighty degree turn. God, she hadn’t just ruined both her chances to finally find out what a kiss felt like, but had also failed spectacularly hard. Ugh, why the hell did she have to have such bad luck with boys? Was it fate’s way of rubbing in her face the fact that her future was sealed?

As if in answer to her questions, the phone in her hand vibrated, causing Sakura to stop scowling at herself in the mirror and pause her brushing long enough to glimpse at her phone.

 **S.U.:** _For the engagement party_

The scowl on her face returned as she looked back at her reflection, scrubbing her teeth now like she was scrubbing a dirty toilet. _It’s not ‘the’ engagement party… it’s ‘our’ engagement party. He can’t even say ‘our’?_

He'd added that text like it was just an afterthought for him… And did he think her too stupid to figure out what occasion the dress fitting would be for? It certainly wasn't for her birthday because he'd never bothered to send her any gifts let alone any birthday wishes—so of course she knew it was for their engagement party!

The tears were back now, but she wasn’t crying this time and certainly not over him—no, never for _him_. It was the fact that the doom clock that’d been counting down for so many years of Sakura’s life was now coming close to hitting zero once and for all.

She could almost imagine Sasuke Uchiha smirking at her pitiful attempt to rebel against him. To try to enjoy her freedom while she still could. He wouldn’t even need to punish her for it, because her marriage to him would be a punishment that would last for the rest of her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't yet read my Author's Note before the chapter, please do so now since it's very important! Otherwise, thank you for reading the first chapter! Reviews are much appreciated :)


	2. Welcome to Human Anatomy

She was late on the first day of school!

All of that time spent tossing and turning in bed last night out of anxiety for her first day of school and Sakura had awoken a whole two hours early, only to end up running late because her pig of a roommate had spent an eternity curling her hair in the single bathroom they shared! And now they were both running across campus with only a minute to spare for their first class of the day.

Damn, her armpits were already beginning to sweat from running under the early morning sun. Gah, she should've double-swiped after all.

Juggling her textbook in one hand and a mini brush in the other, Sakura glared at her best friend. “Did you really have to hog the bathroom just to curl your hair?!”

“It’s not my fault the rod took forever to heat up,” Ino retorted, her long blonde curls bouncing with every step. “Or that I have a lot of hair.”

 _And that’s why I like to keep mine short_ , Sakura grumbled to herself.

Upon reaching the crossroads between the Humanities building and the Science building, the two girls branched off from each other. Waving her hand, Ino shouted that they were to meet in the afternoon at the school cafeteria after their classes, but Sakura was already darting into the Science building. Ugh, why did her class have to be all the way up on the _fifth_ floor?

She punched the elevator button, glad that nobody else was around in need of it. No way was she climbing up four flights of stairs just to arrive to class all sweaty and huffing in front of everyone. Raking the mini brush through her hair quickly, Sakura waited for the elevator.

She tapped her foot impatiently while wondering what her Anatomy professor was like. According to the ratings online, Hatake easily had a red hot chili pepper praising his attractive looks. Many of the comments on the website had raved about the appeal of his enigmatic but handsome appearance with some of the more blatant comments made towards his sexy body. His physical appeal was popular to the point that one comment had mentioned that the girls called him _'Hot_ ake' behind his back.

However, there had been just as many comments criticizing his apathetic approach to helping his students with some claiming that he was only in the profession for the money rather than a sincere desire to educate the future generation. Apparently, he was a severely strict professor who, more likely than not, failed his students rather than helped them succeed. And for that, his difficulty hit the max score of 5 with red, unhappy faces flooding the page.

Finally, the elevator doors opened with a **_‘ding’_ **, prompting her to step inside and press for the fifth floor.

She wished she had taken a look at the ratings before registering for his course, but it wasn’t like she had much of a choice to begin with. By the time it had been her turn to register for classes, the two other Anatomy professors already had a waiting list in the works. Professor Hatake was the only professor who hadn’t reached maxed capacity. In fact, he still had plenty of spots left available, but she was starting to figure out that that wasn’t exactly good news.

The doors began to roll close.

“Hold the door!” A voice shouted from across.

Glancing up to where someone had rushed through the building’s entrance, Sakura froze at the sight of the sushi tie she had once intended to gift to her father. Jade eyes ran up a broad chest, skimming over a familiar black mask that covered the lower half of the man’s face. Peeking above the edge of his mask was a spot of his cheek mottled red and purple—a bruise he’d sustained recently. And that mop of silver hair that flounced around as the man dashed through the hallway to catch the elevator… Sakura could still remember how soft those silver strands had felt against her face that night.

_Ka… kashi?_

She gaped at him and his dark gaze finally met hers. His eyes widened in recognition just before the doors closed between them to effectively cut off their shocked stare.

The textbook in Sakura’s arm tumbled to the floor, shaking her out of her shock. She bent down to pick up her stuff, but the memory of Kakashi’s masked face still left her chest squeezing in anxiety or excitement—it was hard to tell. When they met Saturday night, it had been too dark to see his entire profile save for key features like his hair and mask. But those eyes… it was hard to forget those obsidian eyes that seemed to swallow her in.

 _But what's he doing here? Is he one of the senior students_? In the second she saw him, Sakura had noticed the book bag slung across his shoulder. So that had to mean he was a student, right? Oh god, and she’d let the elevator door close on him when they were both already late as they were.

She decided she would just have to try and avoid running into him on campus from now on, especially considering he seemed very eager to get away from her last night. Well, it should at least be easy for _him_ to avoid _her_ if he wanted to, considering the large student population.

_He’s wearing the sushi tie I gave him though._

At that thought, a smile tugged at her lips as she finally arrived at the fifth floor. The hallways were already empty and the voices of other teachers beginning their class echoed through as Sakura rushed to her classroom. Sucking in a deep breath, she took the moment to adjust the skirt of her olive dress before yanking the door open.

Over a dozen pairs of eyes turned to her as she slipped into the classroom, but the absence of their professor had Sakura breathing a sigh of relief. Okay, so Professor Hatake was also running late. Phew! That was good; she didn’t need to give him any bad impressions on the first day of school, especially when she heard he was a strict enough teacher as it was. Apparently, he didn’t tolerate even a minute of tardiness unlike most other teachers.

Scanning the classroom for a seat, she decided to go for the first row despite the ball of anxiety tumbling in her stomach at the moment. She found that it was easier to learn from the very front where she could see and hear everything perfectly. At the back, she tended to be more distracted with her phone and she didn’t want to risk that for a class like Human Anatomy, and she _certainly_ didn't want to risk that under a strict instructor like Hatake.

Her palms were sweaty when Sakura sat down front and center, but it wasn’t the fact that she was the only one who dared to sit in the first row that had her nervous. It was the fact that she didn’t really belong here in this class. After all, who else took Human Anatomy for their first semester but without a major to claim? She was no pre-nursing student as most of the students here likely were, and she wasn’t even trying for pre-med. So with no major to claim, she felt like an imposter among all these students who already knew what they wanted to be in the future. Yet, here she was on a Monday morning ready to learn about the human body for the very first day of college.

As she was starting to regret her spontaneous choice to register for this class, the door finally swung open, prompting Sakura to sit up straighter in her chair and, for the second time this morning, her jaw dropped.

 _No. Way_.

There he was again, one hand yanking at the knot of her father’s—no, _his_ —sushi tie to loosen it and the other hand tugging at the strap of his book bag to set it on the teacher's desk— _his_ desk. It was almost jarring _not_ seeing him in his black hoodie with the black gloves, dressed like a thug rather than the professor in front of her now.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late.”

There was that rich, deep voice coming out from that mask again, smooth as silk. He sounded a bit winded, no doubt from having to rush up the stairs all the way to the fifth floor because of her.

Shit.

“There was...” By some higher power, his dark grey eyes gravitated towards Sakura, finding her in the sea of students, and she gulped as a hot flash of panic throbbed in her chest. Kakashi paused slightly at the sight of her once more, but if he was surprised to find her in his class in this large five-story building, he made no sign of it. Instead, he cleared his throat. “There was a, uh... problem with the elevator. Had to use the stairs."

_Kill me now._

She was already regretting taking the front and center seat.

It took all of Sakura’s willpower to not just sink all the way down her seat and pool onto the floor in a puddle of despair and embarrassment. Of all the three instructors who taught Human Anatomy, and _he_ was her professor? It was bad enough she mistook him for a thug that Saturday night and tried to punch him, and then proceeded to hitch a piggyback ride from him before trying to steal a kiss, only to end up puking all over his good clothes. But now she had also snubbed him at the elevator just a few minutes ago! So much for giving her professor a good first impression…

And she had mistaken him as a senior student earlier! Well, in her defense, she had already spotted some middle-aged and elderly students in this classroom upon walking in, so age hardly mattered when it came to getting a degree. It still didn't stop her from feeling like an idiot though...

Sakura watched Kakashi—no, _Professor Hatake_ —power up the screen and open the syllabus that’d been emailed to everyone about three weeks ago. His full name had probably been in his email itself but that wasn’t what she had been looking at when she opened it at that time while she'd been planning out and trying on outfits to wear for the semester.

The pen in her hands bounced anxiously against her notebook as he adjusted the screen for them. “Welcome to Biology 71, otherwise known as Human Anatomy. My name is Kakashi Hatake and this is my morning section for Anatomy lecture. So if you somehow got the wrong course or section then now is the time for you to check and go if you need to.”

There was a small cough somewhere in the back, but everybody remained seated.

“Most of you are taking this class as a core requirement for your pre-nursing or pre-med studies.” He leaned over the desk, placing both hands atop of it as he surveyed the people before him. Sakura couldn’t help but gulp again when his eyes flitted to her and lingered there a hot second longer than the others. “I'm going to be very honest with you all right now: at least 80% of the students in this class will fail.”

Her brows shot up at those words and a hushed wave of voices passed through the classroom as every student eyed each other in a panic. Was he joking? The apathetic look in his eye told her it wasn’t a joke.

“If those words scare you—good. If you're already starting to doubt your ability to pass then you should probably drop this course. It is not my intention or desire to fail you, but what I am saying is the truth and you'll soon understand what I mean… if you stay long enough, that is.”

She was still digesting the word ‘fail’ when his eyes suddenly crinkled with a cheeriness that was much too jarring from the serious look he had just given them.

“But enough of that.” Sitting back in his chair, Kakashi pulled out a sheet of paper from his bag. Sakura recognized the form and reached into her backpack to pull out the same paper she had bothered to print out. “I'm going to go over the syllabus quickly before I do roll call and then we'll jump right into the lecture."

“We’re jumping into the lecture on day one already?” A girl hissed from somewhere behind.

“But Professor Hatake,” one student spoke up, “most of us don’t even have our textbooks yet.”

“Yeah, mine won’t be arriving until next week!”

A few more students joined in to create a chorus of protest with even the elderly students quietly nodding until the sharp glint in Kakashi’s eye silenced them all. Slowly, he walked over to the front row. Sakura forgot how to swallow her saliva when a pair of men’s black dress shoes stepped into the edge of her peripheral vision and stopped right at her desk. His hands reached out to grab the textbook off Sakura’s desk and she held her breath when Kakashi raised it up before the whole class.

“The name of the book and its ISBN were included in the syllabus emailed to you all three weeks prior, but it seems only one of you bothered to look through the syllabus beforehand instead of the last minute. So the rest of you will just have to catch up on the reading.”

There was a collective groan in response to that and Sakura swore she could feel several glares burning into the back of her head. When the book had yet to return to its place on her desk, she dared a peek up at Kakashi. Dark eyes were already staring down at her and she instantly threw her gaze back down, trying desperately to ignore the heat creeping up her neck and blooming furiously across her cheeks now.

She wasn’t even sure if she was embarrassed or terrified. Probably both.

The book was finally placed back down and Sakura slumped over in relief when he returned to his desk, but the blush on her cheeks stubbornly remained.

"There will be a pop quiz every morning going over what we learned from the last class. To get an A in my class, you have to get a 90%—not an 89 or an 89.90—I need a _90_ . No, I don’t round up. And if you want to get an A-plus, forget all about having a social life,” he said, giving them all an appraising look. Whatever he saw, he didn’t seem impressed at all. “My office hours are…"

As Kakashi droned on, Sakura stared at the syllabus in her hands but the words seemed to blur before her eyes as the panic in her chest continued to swell.

_He hates me! He hates me! He’s totally going to fail me as payback for all the wrong I did him! Oh, I really do have the worst of luck when it comes to men!_

"Now, I will be late every once in a while, but that doesn't give you the excuse to follow suit. If fifteen minutes pass and you decide to leave, I'll still be starting class, with or without you. For a core class like Human Anatomy, missing a day's worth of lecture is already missing half a chapter's worth of content, so I'd be careful if I were you."

“With a teacher as hot as him, I’d never miss a day,” the girl behind Sakura purred to her classmate. "No wonder they call him Professor _Hot_ ake."

“Dude, his voice is _so_ sexy. I can listen _and_ watch him talk about my body all day. And have you seen the way his muscles strain against his dress shirt?” The other girl whispered beneath Kakashi’s voice and Sakura tried her best to filter her and the friend out. “Those buttons are begging to fly off!”

Memories of Saturday night and her free ride on Kakashi’s back had the blush returning with an intense ferocity now as Sakura couldn’t help but overhear the girls whispering all about his broad shoulders—those same broad shoulders she had the chance to grip for five solid minutes. And his mask… yeah, that mask may hide half his face but it was nowhere near enough to hide the strong outline of his jaw—that same jaw shifting up and down as he spoke.

 _Wow, no wonder everyone on the website was raving about his red hot chili pepper… Wait, what am I doing?! I’m here to learn, not ogle my professor!_ Sakura tried to blink away any more thoughts about Kakashi’s attractive looks and turned to frowning at the syllabus instead.

 _Hmm… But he looks adorable in my sushi tie_ — _ugh, stop it, Sakura!_

"There will be four exams total with the final exam being cumulative—and no, I don't curve grades.” Several hands that’d been sticking up in the air immediately fell down, followed by a couple of grumbles. With a sigh, Kakashi added, “However, I do review days and will provide study guides but, regardless of what is on the study guide, anything from the textbook is still _fair game_ , including the diagrams. So make sure you don't just follow my powerpoint notes but that you actually read the textbook itself. And since you have access to the powerpoints, please don’t ask me to slow down. I only have so much time to teach you over twenty-four chapters worth of content.”

“Over _what_ now?!” The same girl behind her wheezed out.

Having peeked through the textbook the moment she’d received it, Sakura knew there were specifically almost _thirty_ chapters to go through. But it wasn’t the book contents that had her afraid for this class. Nope, her fear came in the form of a handsome, six-feet tall professor whom she’d punched, rode on, and vomited all over just one night ago.

Just looking at him elicited a mix of emotions within Sakura, and somehow it reminded her of Christian Bale from American Psycho; a sexy guy who could break her neck if he wanted to. Except Kakashi wouldn’t be killing _her_ , per se—no, he’d be killing her _grade_.

_Goodbye, A-plus, it was not nice never knowing you..._

The rest of the syllabus discussion turned towards academic honesty and the policy towards cheating, but all Sakura could think of was the sushi tie hanging from his neck. She was still surprised he’d really chosen to wear it and on the first day of school. Why wear something that would remind him of that awful night a crazy drunk girl had done all _that_ to him? Did he not have any other ties besides the one she’d vomited on? Embarrassment heated her cheeks once more at the thought that Kakashi himself might be ashamed of having to wear something as silly as a sushi tie on the first day of school, especially when it didn’t seem to fit his strict character. Still, another part of her was also glad to see him wear something that was personally important to her.

Roll call felt like forever as she waited for him to get to her name, student by student. She braced herself when he reached the H’s but still jolted when Kakashi’s rich voice called out, ‘Sakura Haruno’ and he said it exactly the same way he had said it that night.

“Here!” Her voice sounded like a squeak in her ears, her heart hammering away.

His steady gaze landed on her for too long a moment before proceeding to the next student, but it took forever for Sakura’s heartbeat to return to normal.

Thank goodness she’d bothered with the deodorant this morning despite her rush, because she was sweating buckets at this point. And it was barely—she glimpsed the clock hanging behind him—twenty minutes into class. Which meant there was still over an hour left to go...

Lecture began right after attendance and the classroom was suddenly filled with the **_‘click clack’_ ** noises of fingers tapping rapidly against keyboards. She glanced over her shoulder and realized that practically every student but herself had pulled out a laptop and was currently taking notes by typing at the speed of light. Of course she had to be the only one taking notes the old-fashioned way.

When Sakura accidentally met Kakashi’s gaze once more as he was introducing the organ systems, she caught the amused glint in his eye and sunk a few more inches down her chair.

Could she attract any _more_ attention to herself?

At least he didn’t click through the slides as fast as she thought he would. In fact, despite her taking notes at a slower rate than her classmates with their laptops, she couldn’t help but notice that he only moved onto the next slide when she set her pen down. Or maybe it was just her imagination.

It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time the lecture ended. Skedaddling out of the classroom, Sakura inhaled deeply the fresh air to clear herself of all the humiliation that’d been twisting and knotting low in her belly. Luckily, some students had lagged behind to ask Kakashi for an add code, giving her the perfect opportunity to slip past him without having to feel the heaviness of his stare on her.

She rounded the science building to head for the back where she had spotted a small pavilion while touring the campus on her own the day she moved into her apartment with Ino. Hopefully, no one was there now. She doubted there was since it was behind the building and at the edge of the campus.

The pavilion’s single white bench and the wooden lattices framing it afforded Sakura a decent amount of shade and some privacy from the bustling traffic of students that constantly filled the main courtyard between the classroom buildings. But it was the faint yet refreshing scent of lilac and jasmine that made this spot here enjoyable to stay at. It soothed the nerves that had been eating at her since this morning.

Tipping her face back, Sakura allowed the warmth of the morning sun filtering through the small holes of the lattice to wash away the rest of her dread as she mulled over what to do. The absence of Kakashi’s deep voice only gave the chance for her head to flood with more thoughts of him. It would honestly be a ridiculous decision to just drop his class simply because of the brief but poor history between each other. It was hard enough to get a spot for Human Anatomy and it would be a waste to quit now when others had been so eager to get in.

Sakura sighed to herself.

No, she was resigned to her fate.

But it couldn’t be that bad, right? All she had to do was put up with him for a semester—just about four months. And it wasn’t like he was all that bad to begin with. It was Sakura who had given him that bruise; had puked all over his good clothes; and had made him take the stairs instead of helping him at the elevator. Kakashi—no, _Professor Hatake_ —had been nothing but a gentleman towards her.

_If anything, I should’ve stayed after class to apologize for leaving him hanging outside the elevator._

Shaking her head in disappointment of herself, Sakura glanced at the silver watch hanging off her left wrist. Okay, she still had lab class with him in about half an hour. If she stayed after class this time then surely she would have the chance to apologize to him then.

Without warning, the scent of pine trees and aftershave began to mingle with the lilac and jasmine.

“Well now, it seems my favorite bench has already been taken.”

She squeezed her eyes shut—fate really had its ways of messing with her—and then opened them. Slowly, Sakura twisted around.

Kakashi was slightly bent over her, his dark eyes lowered to peer down at her face but his brows were raised slightly out of either that same amusement from earlier or maybe surprise that he’d run into her again.

“Oh, P-Professor Hatake!” Sakura jumped up from the bench, already reaching to grab her backpack. “I'm sorry, I didn't realize…"

He immediately raised his hands and it threw her into the memory of the other night when he did the same move to show that he meant her no harm. “I was joking. It's a public bench, so no worries. Please, you can stay seated, Miss Haruno,” he insisted, gesturing to the stone white bench that separated them. “I promise I don't bite.”

Chewing her lip, she soon relented and returned to her side of the bench, making sure to leave a substantial amount of space for him to sit down. Maybe _too_ much space… half of her ass was hanging off the bench now. If he noticed as he sat down beside her, he made no comment. With her lap empty of any material and her mind now horribly blank, Sakura tried to distract herself from the awkward atmosphere by fiddling with the hem of her olive dress.

But like last time, it was Kakashi who dared to speak first. “So, how was your class this morning?”

Was this a test? Would she be pushing it if she said it went great? Or would he feel insulted if she called it okay? But instead of answering that question, Sakura was dying to ask him if he knew all along since Saturday night that she would be his student for the semester. His reaction that night all made sense now; he _had_ to have known, she was sure of it. And now he was acting so aloof about it like he wasn’t affected by this revelation at all.

“Um, it was fine,” she remembered to answer, opting for a neutral response. Her slim fingers twisted and tugged at her skirt. “Nothing much happened since it’s just the first day.”

He leaned slightly—god, she could feel the heat of him prickling across the length of her bare arm despite over a foot of space between them. “Were you nervous? You know, since it’s your first year and all?”

“Actually, yeah…” Was it that obvious she was just a first-year? Maybe he’d guessed that from her telling him that she just moved in over the weekend, although she also knew she looked younger than her actual age, what with the remnants of baby fat still clinging to her cheeks.

“Well...” Kakashi traced a hand over the edge of his jaw. “I hope your instructor wasn’t too intimidating.”

Hearing that comment made Sakura think he really was trying to pretend as if Saturday night had never happened. For some reason, that thought left her stomach heavy with disappointment. But when her jade orbs slid to the corner of her eye, Sakura met his gaze once more as she caught him peeking at her too, and she realized that he wasn’t pretending they’d never met before. No, in fact, it was the complete opposite. This was his way of _teasing_ her about that night.

Whatever nervousness that might’ve remained immediately dissipated within her.

A small smile started to pull at her mouth and she held Kakashi’s stare while pressing her lips together to suppress that smile. “He was a little bit intimidating at first. Still, it seems he was nervous too, but I guess that’s because it’s his first year teaching—or so I hear.”

According to the rating website, Professor Hatake had only begun teaching during the summer that just passed, making this fall his first official semester. Yet, for an instructor as new as him, he’d managed to quickly develop quite a reputation for himself…

“I hope you don’t feel too stressed out about him,” Kakashi hummed, scrubbing a hand across his jaw. Impressively enough, his mask didn’t shift under the movement at all. This time, he turned his head to look at her fully and she normally would’ve shrunk under his intense gaze were it not for the way his eyes crinkled with a playfulness that had been completely absent back in the classroom. “Or did he leave you feeling a little nauseous this morning?”

Oh, he _definitely_ remembered Saturday night.

Sakura’s eyes flicked up and down from the sushi tie she’d given him and then to the teasing crinkle of his eyes. If she could die of mortification, she would have been dead the moment he’d stepped into that classroom.

Swallowing hard, she then leaned in just a few inches over the foot of space between them to whisper, “You won’t tell anyone, will you? About my illegal drinking?”

It wasn’t like she had any parents around to go batshit insane over her underage drinking, but if somebody from the school faculty was informed—somebody like the Dean, for instance… it could go on her record. She had already heard tales of campus police catching drunk, underage students returning to their dorms late in the night and she had no desire to become a part of those tales.

“I won’t,” Kakashi replied quietly, his voice deepening even more with the low volume. She blinked at him and he shrugged. “I was once your age too—probably a little more reckless even, so I understand.”

Sakura couldn’t help but let out an audible sigh of relief at that. The sweaty hands fiddling with the skirt of her dress slowed down to a stop before she smoothed out the little wrinkles made. “So then how old are you now?” she dared to ask, curious now that she had a better look at the exposed half of his face.

This close to him and under broad daylight, she noticed that his eyes weren’t so dark as they seemed from afar. Nor were they the black color she had mistaken them for on that night. No, they were more of a smoky, gunmetal grey when exposed to sunlight. And though his eyes, framed by thick, silver lashes, were easily expressive, they lacked any actual wrinkles, giving him a youthful appearance. She guessed he was in his mid-twenties.

“I’m thirty-one today.”

It took great effort on Sakura’s part to keep her brows from shooting up. Thirty-one?! He _certainly_ looked younger than his actual age, even if she could only judge half of his face.

_Wait a minute…_

She blinked at him. “It’s your birthday today?”

“Ah, yeah…” He rubbed the back of his neck, keeping his eyes forward now as if he was the shy one instead of her.

Sakura smiled at him even though he wasn’t looking at her anymore. “Well then, happy birthday, Professor Kaka—ah, I mean, Professor Hatake.”

He released a sheepish laugh but finally fixed his attention back on her. “Thank you, Miss Haruno.”

‘Miss Haruno’; not ‘Sakura’ like he’d called her that night. That weird disappointment from earlier settled its way back into her stomach again. She was confused if their relationship had taken a step back in progress or a step forward. Wait, relationship? No, they didn’t have any sort of relationship despite that night because, from now on, Kakashi was nothing more than her teacher and she his student. Yes, _that’s_ the relationship that they shared now. Any memory of that night they met needed to be erased from her mind pronto.

“Will you be celebrating with family and friends after classes?”

Kakashi nodded slowly. “My friends are planning to drag me to the bar later. I’m not sure what the rest of their plans are, but I can guess it won’t be anything good.”

She smiled wider at him. “Then I suppose it’s a good thing I won’t be seeing you until Wednesday once today’s lab class is over.”

“Oh?” He chuckled and it left her belly feeling warm with the pleasure of having made someone like him laugh. “You’re already getting tired of seeing my face, Miss Haruno? I’m hurt.”

"Not your whole face; just the upper half."

"Hm, touché."

“But I’ll admit, I was shocked to see your face _again_ when you entered the classroom.” Shaking her head, Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you know I would be one of your students for this semester? When you were at my apartment that night?” she added in a hushed voice.

Sweeping his eyes across their surroundings to make sure they were still alone, Kakashi then gave her a half-shrug. “I… suspected there was a chance when I saw your Anatomy textbook. But then you gave your instructor’s last name— _my_ last name—and I… I didn’t know how to react,” he added, scratching his cheek over the mask. He seemed embarrassed when he said, “I do apologize for abruptly leaving the way I did though…”

“Oh… Well, I just thought you had found a dead body I didn’t know about or something.” Her smile started to feel strained as the awkwardness of that night and the way he’d practically tried to escape her apartment like she was a serial killer resurfaced. But she wanted a little insight on what might’ve been running through his head during that moment. She deserved that much, right?

Sakura held her breath as she caught the wrinkle between Kakashi’s brows that hadn’t been there before.

“It’d be inappropriate for an instructor to be caught in his student’s apartment,” he replied slowly, quietly, looking everywhere but at her.

She nodded in agreement, having suspected the same thing as well once he’d revealed himself as her professor. Feeling the awkwardness of this topic start to kill what lightheartedness had developed between them, she decided to switch the conversation to something else. “So you really won’t tell anyone? About my drinking? It-It was just that one night, I swear.”

Kakashi shook his head. “Your secret is safe with me, Miss Haruno.”

Though they were no longer strangers, she still didn’t know him that well. Even so, Sakura could tell he was being sincere.

“Okay then… Thank you, Professor Hatake.” Tucking back a loose piece of hair, she flashed him another smile. “You know, you’re not really what I expected.”

“And what did you expect?” he asked, tipping a brow at her.

Oof, she should’ve known he would throw that comment right back.

“Ah, um, you sort of have a reputation among the school.” Sakura didn’t bother to explain where, specifically, she’d heard about his reputation. He didn’t need to go surfing through the web only to find his former students either sexualizing him or criticizing his strict nature. Still, with his expectant gaze on her, she squirmed for a bit before giving a sigh of defeat. “If you really wanna know… Freshmen have been warned not to take your class because they say you're a cutthroat teacher who has an apathetic approach to teaching and that you don't like stupid questions.”

She paused to gauge his reaction, unsure if he was ready to hear some of the harsher comments from his ratings. The gunmetal grey of his eyes remained aloof but steady on her.

Sucking in a breath, she continued. “You have no sympathy for your students, their grades, their circumstances or whatsoever. You don’t give extra credit, no retakes, and you test the most minute details from the book. The pre-nursing students are especially vocal of the idea that you’ve specifically designed your class to get them to drop from the program.”

Deciding that was more than enough, Sakura shut her mouth and waited for his reaction. The website had shown dozens of scathing reviews from just that summer he’d taught, but she thought that he didn’t need to know _all_ the details.

There was only a second of contemplative silence before Kakashi spoke up. “So I should like stupid questions?”

The retort caught Sakura off guard and she blinked at him. Of all that she said and he’d focused solely on _that_? Or was it another trick question of his? “Um…”

Chuckling, Kakashi shook his head. “No wonder you found me intimidating. Yes, I suppose I am a tough instructor, but it’s nothing personal and I have no ill intentions. I’m here to do my job, that’s all. Some students just like to make it harder for me.”

“Oh… I’m sorry..?” Sakura wasn’t sure what to say to that. He hadn’t denied nor admitted to any of the claims she had listed out for him. But, if she had to be honest with herself, she didn’t really care about any of those critiques now that she was speaking to him like this. All of that hearsay couldn’t compare to actually getting to know him personally and, from what she could tell so far, Kakashi Hatake was a pretty chill guy. It was only when his gaze stayed a bit too long on her did she feel unsettled around him… but not necessarily in a bad way.

“And you?” There it was again. Those gunmetal grey eyes darkening into an ashy smoke. “Do you plan to make things hard for me, Miss Haruno?”

Something about that question had Sakura’s stomach clenching hot with excitement and her thighs subconsciously squeezing together beneath her skirt. Pink bloomed warm across her cheeks, deepening with color the longer she held his gaze. She licked her lips and sucked in a shaky breath, urging herself to not back down from this silent challenge that she felt he was putting up—intentionally or not. “No, Professor Hatake,” she answered quietly, almost in a whisper.

She could see his lips quirk up beneath the mask. His eyes flitted across her face for a few seconds and she wondered what sort of thoughts were running through his mind as he, too, was now afforded the chance to get a proper look at her under broad daylight.

“I know you won’t,” Kakashi murmured. “Because you’re a good student, aren’t you, Miss Haruno?”

Minus that little drunken mishap, yeah.

Swallowing hard, Sakura couldn’t help but wonder for the briefest of moments what it would be like to hear him say ‘good girl’ in that rich voice of his. Ugh, the words of those girls behind her in class really seem to have gotten to her. Either that, or it was those reviews raving about his red hot chili pepper—never mind that _that_ was starting to sound like a sexual innuendo itself.

But his gaze remained dark and focused on her and…

She nodded, thighs straining together. “Yes, Professor Hatake.”

She was pretty sure she'd accidentally called him ' _Hot_ ake' instead, but whispering it had covered up that mistake. There was a strange, thrilling sensation building between her thighs that was kind of hard to ignore the longer she held his gaze. Geez, was she really feeling horny just by him looking at her? Well, under broad daylight, there was no denying the sex appeal of his body beneath that shirt and tie, and even just the upper half of his face was ruggedly handsome. Still, he was her professor for goodness sake! And not to mention that he was fourteen years older than her—almost twice her age! Maybe she was feeling horny because her period was arriving soon or something. Then again, she was pretty certain that the other girls in class were feeling the same way towards him, including the ones who probably already had boyfriends.

A strange silence was starting to span between them but, because of whatever unspoken challenge they’ve gotten themselves into, neither of them dared to break away from the other’s stare. At this point, she wasn’t even sure if he was intentionally trying to have a staring contest with her or what. Either way, no way was she backing down.

Having had no parents around to reprimand her, Sakura had grown up to be quite a stubborn girl. She didn’t know how she’d survived butting heads with Ino all this time, and maybe that’s why they clicked so well together, but her stubborn nature refused to let Sakura back down now even in the—very handsome, she had to admit since she was this close to him—face of authority. There was something about Kakashi that both daunted her as well as drew her in. It was almost like staring straight into the barrel of a gun; intimidating, but also somehow exhilarating.

Finally, he looked away, turning his attention to the orange book he’d been holding in his hand the entire time as if he’d originally planned to sit down and read it here. It obviously wasn’t the textbook or lab manual meant for his classes, but it also didn’t look thick enough to be a textbook for school at all. She waited for him to open it but his thumbs merely flipped through the pages absentmindedly.

“I'm, um, sorry about this morning, by the way,” she said after racking her brain for something to fill the pregnant pause in the conversation.

“By this morning, you mean with the elevator?”

She tried not to wince as the memory was still fresh. “I didn't mean to leave you out like that. I just… I was shocked to see you again. Here of all places."

“It’s all right, I don’t blame you.” He ran a hand through the thick mop of silver hair that stuck out haphazardly from his head and yet she thought the style suited him. “I can’t say I was as shocked as you were though.”

“Right, because you already had your suspicions when you were in my apartment.” A gentle breeze tousled her hair loose again and Sakura reached a hand up to tuck it back, smiling slightly. “Although it really had nothing to do with suspecting I’m a serial killer, right?”

In hindsight, it was pretty funny remembering how a tall, kung-fu fighting guy like him had been so desperate to get away from a small, unassuming girl like her.

“No, although it was pretty hard to ignore the ghost in your bathroom mirror.” Kakashi paused to give her a solemn look, but then broke out into a chuckle when her jaw slowly dropped. He shook his head, shoulders still quaking with amusement. “I’m kidding, Miss Haruno. Your apartment isn’t haunted, so no worries. I was just in a hurry to leave because, as I said, it’d be very inappropriate for me to be in my underage student’s apartment late at night.”

“So during the day is okay then?” His eyes widened onto hers and this time it was Sakura’s turn to laugh. The sun was warm on her face when she threw back her head to let out a bout of giggles. “I’m joking, Professor Hatake! Sorry, but I had to spend the rest of the weekend wondering what I did to scare you off like that. I didn’t know if it was the vomit or the punch—” Sakura gasped, twisting around on her side of the bench to face him fully. “Your cheek! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I had actually hit you that badly!”

She leaned just a little closer to get a better look at that bruise she’d glimpsed in class today and he turned his cheek for her. A mix of red and purple still peeked over the edge of his mask and Sakura wondered just how large the bruise truly was. Guilt twisted her lips at the sight of the mottled skin and she tightened her hands into fists to keep from checking the full extent of the injury she had given him.

Kakashi must’ve noticed the trepidation in her expression because his eyes crinkled once more in appeasement. “I’ve had worse, Miss Haruno. Your fist barely grazed me so it’s not that bad, but I can imagine you have a mean right hook.”

 _He’s had worse? What does that mean?_ Then again, she’d seen the way he handled those punks with such ease that it was easier to imagine him in a dojo rather than in a classroom. But what kind of professor got into fistfights often enough to be able to brush off a group attack like that and act like it was nothing?

“How is your knee, by the way?” he nodded to the purple splotch of skin below the hem of her skirt.

Feeling a bit self-conscious of her bare legs so close to his and remembering how his hands had felt beneath her thighs, Sakura shifted her feet slightly. “It’s okay. Still kinda sore, but I’ve been icing it.”

He nodded in satisfaction before turning his focus forward to their view of the rolling hill before them that led to the lush park woods lining the back of the campus. His hands remained on the orange book, flipping through the pages without a glance as if he wanted to read it but not with her around.

But Sakura wasn’t so eager to leave anymore as she no longer found herself afraid of him like this morning. Rather than that, it was curiosity that left her butt sticking to the bench despite the silence that had befallen them. There were plenty of questions still poised on the tip of her tongue.

 _Why do you wear a mask? Why does my Anatomy professor look like he belongs in a dojo instead? Why do you even know how to put someone in a chokehold? Do you like the sushi tie I gave you? Do your clothes still smell of my puke_ —no, scratch that one… _What’s that book you’re holding?_

The questions seemed endless with none of them having anything to do with his class.

She’d already been curious about Kakashi ever since he appeared from the shadows of that night to save her, but the more she got to know him, the more she wanted to know. It was like she was falling down a rabbit hole, guided by his enigmatic character. A part of Sakura worried that if she didn’t continue this pursuit for more, then he would just disappear like smoke dissipating into thin air. But at the same time, maybe she was toeing a line she wasn’t supposed to cross as his student?

The abrupt **_‘beeep’_ ** of his watch prevented Sakura from having to decide and she watched Kakashi jerk his wrist up to check the time.

He stood up, stuffing the orange book into the back pocket of his trousers before she could even steal a glance at the cover of it. “Well, I should go and prepare the materials for lab. I’ll see you in a few minutes then, Miss Haruno?”

That’s right; lab class was about three hours. Normally, three whole hours spent in a classroom sounded boring enough for any average student. And yet, knowing she’d be spending the next three hours under his tutelage left Sakura somewhat eager.

She nodded up at him. “I’ll see you, Professor Hatake.”

 _Professor Hatake_. That was an additional three syllables more than just ‘Kakashi’ and Sakura was loath to admit she preferred saying his first name instead.

Kakashi skirted around her to leave but stopped at the edge of the pavilion. Peering at Sakura over his shoulder, he raised the tail of his tie to pull her attention to the assorted rolls of sushi coloring the otherwise grey plaid. Rather than see the smirk under his mask, she could practically _hear_ it as he said, “Thanks again for the sushi tie, by the way.”

And then he was walking away, leaving her to stare after his retreating back as the flush in her cheeks returned once more.

_He likes my sushi tie..._

A full minute passed and then, slowly, almost dazedly, a small grin broke out across Sakura’s face and remained there all the way until she remembered to school her features upon entering lab class fifteen minutes later.

But even as Kakashi started lecturing about the various planes and anatomical positions of the human body, all Sakura could think of was how well he pulled off that sushi tie and his ‘thank you’ from earlier. It took the entire three hours of class for her to stop feeling so flustered over it.

But then class ended and Sakura smiled at him just briefly enough to say, “Bye, Professor Hatake.”

And he looked up from the sea of students that separated them to meet her shy gaze, and the crinkle of his eyes was the only indication of the smile hidden beneath his mask as he responded with, “See you around, Miss Haruno.”

Oh, if only she knew just how much they’d be seeing each other from then on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “At least 80% of you will fail this class” is a direct quote from my own Anatomy professor way back in my first year of college, and it still haunts me to this day because I was one of the many students who did fail his class. That class severely traumatized me (and my GPA). The best students in that class only achieved a B grade. To this day, many pre-nursing/pre-med students still hate that professor with a passion (I recently checked RateMyProfessor). I had to retake Anatomy with another professor (who also worked as a neurosurgeon - so anatomy wasn’t even her specialty) but she was a way better instructor and I managed to pass her. That said, some “classroom” elements here are based on my own personal experience of taking Human Anatomy (minus the whole student-teacher relationship obviously), so yeah you'll be getting an authentic experience as I'll be copy-pasting my old Anatomy notes for some scenes.


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